Music
Plus One
The 11 best Swedish House Mafia tracks
SHM propelled EDM into the mainstream. We rank the game-changing trio’s top songs ahead of their upcoming Creamfields set
Hailed as the “rockstars of dance music” by NME, Swedish House Mafia are the biggest electronic group of their generation. The first EDM supergroup to transcend the confines of the dance world, Steve Angello, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso – who knew each other as children growing up in Stockholm and previously had successful solo careers – not only kick-started America’s love affair with the genre but launched it into the mainstream.
Throughout the early 2010s, the DJ-producer trio – who were almost a four-piece as Eric Prydz regularly DJ’d with them at 100-capacity gay club Rainbow Room – redefined the rules of electronic music. Infusing progressive house music with rock ‘n’ roll attitude and cinematic grandeur, their huge live performances elevated dance music from clubs to arenas and stadiums. Alongside selling out Madison Square Garden in just nine minutes (a first for any electronic artist), they made the music of Coldplay rave-friendly thanks to their stadium-sized remix of ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’.
However, due to them feeling lost as individual artists and not dealing with the increased pressure, the group called it quits in 2013 after their record-breaking One Last Tour. Five years later, they returned as surprise headliners of the 20th anniversary edition of Ultra Music Festival in Miami, headed on a reunion tour in 2019 and began making music together again soon after.
Returning with a darker new sound in 2021, the trio’s long-awaited debut album, Paradise Again, was shared with the world in 2022. Centred on a timeless collaboration with global megastar The Weeknd, the pair co-headlined one of the biggest music festivals in the world, Coachella.
While the size of the trio’s discography is modest compared to most artists or groups of their scene-leading stature, the quality of their releases stands tall amongst a crowded scene.
11. ‘Lifetime‘ (with Ty Dolla $ign & 070 Shake)
(Paradise Again, 2022)
Worlds away from the EDM beats they became renowned for, the trio returned in 2021 with an intriguing new sound that recalled the downtempo yet hypnotic production of The Weeknd and Daft Punk’s ‘Starboy’ from five years prior. ‘Lifetime’ – which had its live premier on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – not only unveiled a more dystopian and introspective side to the Swedes’ artistry, but found a way to weave many different genres together. Don’t let the Western-shootout-ready intro and outro fool you, this eerie fusion of funk, hip-hop and R&B is given a sci-fi edge thanks to spacey synths while rapper-singers Ty Dolla $ign and 070 Shake add moody vocals to the mix. Being their second release following a near-decade break, it marked an exciting new chapter for Swedish House Mafia.
10. ‘Greyhound‘
(Until Now, 2012)
Surely one of the biggest dancefloor hits to result from an advertising campaign, ‘Greyhound’ was actually released in partnership with vodka brand Absolut to promote its Absolut Greyhound drink. While its futuristic music video likely boasted a similar budget, the heavy bass, infectious synth progression and dubstep-influenced vocal wobbles ramp up to send the near-seven-minute track in multiple directions. The pulse quickens and things simmer down before the trio – who established themselves as true festival headliners – really go for it with the rave-y synths at the halfway point. A timeless modern rave anthem.
9. ‘Calling (Lose My Mind)‘ (with Alesso and Ryan Tedder)
(Until Now, 2012)
The band’s second compilation – the accurately-titled Until Now – was packed with heavy-hitters. This effortlessly euphoric number, which started out as an instrumental and really should have been a single, lives up to its cathartic namesake. With soaring vocals from pop songwriter extraordinaire and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder, the punchy beats and huge build-up make for the perfect firework-backed festival finale. A nostalgia-inducing classic of the era.
8. ‘Turn On The Lights again..‘ (with Fred again..) ft. Future)
![Fred again.. x Swedish House Mafia - Turn On The Lights again.. (feat. Future) [Visualiser]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q22MCFC0CP0/0.jpg)
(USB, 2022)
Teaming up with the biggest British producer of the 2020s in Fred again.. not only cemented the trio’s ever-lasting influence on electronic music, but just how respected they still are. Having flown to Sweden to spend three days together in the studio, the story goes that Fred proposed a challenge to create a song in 35 minutes. While this initially surprised the group, they ended up creating six songs in two days. One of these was ‘Turn On The Lights again..’ which, sampling American rapper Future’s song of the same name, delivers an explosive fusion of house, new-generation EDM and UK garage.
7. ‘Antidote‘ (with Knife Party)
(Until Now, 2012)
For anyone that went to uni during the early 2010s, they’ll remember ‘Antidote’ being the ultimate freshers anthem. Challenging speakers and floorboards at student venues up and down the UK, the trio’s bass-heavy collaboration with Aussie beat makers Knife Party – released at the height of the dubstep explosion, days after their own dubstep banger ‘Internet Friends’ – remained a highlight of midweek club nights for many months. Combining the styles of both groups, the short but sharp onslaught took no prisoners. Proving the potential for crossover between different subgenres of electronic music, the single, which fittingly featured bullet holes on the single’s artwork, also went where few dance tracks did at that time – the mosh pit.
6. ‘Miami 2 Ibiza‘ (with Tinie Tempah)
(Until One, 2010)
With its dated references to Blackberry phones and Playboy bunnies, ‘Miami 2 Ibiza’ – which saw the trio team up with English rapper Tinie Tempah – felt very of the moment when it dropped at the turn of a new decade. Released in the midst of the group’s Monday night residency at Ibiza superclub Pacha, the trance-tinged club hit has withstood the test of time and remains a go-to party anthem 15 years later. According to an interview, Tinie (who included the track on his own debut album Disc-Overy) even credited the group for showing him a new dance-oriented way of making music.
5. ‘Heaven Takes You Home‘ ft. Connie Constance
(Paradise Again, 2022)
After a mutual friend in Los Angeles introduced them, English indie artist Connie Constance soon found herself with an invitation to perform with the trio at their first London show in a decade. The collaboration continued as they teamed up to write and record the emotional ‘Heaven Takes You Home’. Fun fact: Constance also directed the music video; “I wanted to create something that might be shown at a wedding or, sadly, a funeral”, she said at the time.
4. ‘Moth To A Flame‘ (with The Weeknd)
(Paradise Again, 2022)
The runaway highlight of the trio’s long-awaited debut album Paradise Again, this cinematic collaboration with The Weeknd – aka one of the world’s biggest artists – presented an impeccable meeting of two worlds. Built upon brooding synth chimes, Abel Tesfaye’s haunting falsetto adds to the eerie soundscape. Having perhaps sensed that the modern idea of pop music is a more fragmented fusion of genres than when EDM was at its centre, the Swedes refrain from going all-out euphoria, instead opting for a low-key piano build up that keeps everything on the same level. Sometimes, as they say, less is more. And the trio and Tesfaye even co-headlined California festival Coachella in the same year.
3. ‘Save The World‘
(Until Now, 2012)
As hands-in-the-air anthems go, this one is top tier. Full of festival-primed “woah oh oh”s sung at full pelt by regular collaborator John Martin, the song’s unifying message is paired with an uplifting melody and a drop so iconic that it resulted in the trio’s first Grammy Award nomination. One month after its release, they cemented their status as EDM titans, headlining Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas alongside Tiësto and David Guetta.
2. ‘One (Your Name)‘ ft. Pharrell Williams
(Until One, 2010)
For an artist or band’s debut single to feature a globally-famous act is almost unheard of. But the rise of Swedish House Mafia was so rapid that playing an early instrumental version of ‘One’ at a show piqued the attention of none other than Pharrell Williams. Impressed by the crunching beat, the N.E.R.D. frontman visited their studio and laid down his vocals after several run-ins at festivals. The trio chopped them up and used them throughout the song, which became a top-10 single and a summer club hit, even coining a new genre: “brave, aka ballsy rave”. With a classical reimagining of ‘One’ officially released 12 years later after it featured within the group’s 2019 reunion tour, there’s no questioning the track’s timeless appeal. Meanwhile, Ingrosso has teased a new track, ‘The Brilliantz’, featuring Pharrell. Here’s hoping it materialises!
1. ‘Don’t You Worry Child‘ ft. John Martin
(Until Now, 2012)
The trio’s most successful song to date – a massive collaboration with Swedish singer-songwriter John Martin – became an emotional fan farewell, with the group then having announced they were splitting and would be heading on one final worldwide arena tour. A pivotal moment of their Ultra Miami Music Festival performance in 2013, ‘Don’t You Worry Child’ not only landed them their second Grammy nomination but remains their biggest release to date, with more than one BILLION streams on Spotify alone.
Swedish House Mafia play Creamfields this August Bank Holiday weekend. Find tickets here
